Mobile changing the consumption of Information, a 3 year Roadmap for Mobile Newspaper Success

It is an accepted fact that the consumption of news on Mobile Phones is growing.  Anyone who thinks print is growing hasn’t seen the number of idled pulp and paper mill capacity that ironically can be repurposed by data centers to host internet news.

ZDNET writes a perspective on the subject of Mobile and News.

News on mobile phones is growing; Newspapers get second chance

Posted by Sam Diaz @ 3:30 am

Categories: General, Mobile

Tags: Phone, Mobile, Cell Phone, Cellular Phones, Consumer Electronics...

The Associated Press took an interesting approach to a report released today by the Pew Research Center about news consumption in an online world. That headline highlighted that 26 percent of adult Americans now get their news from their mobile phones, an interesting statistic. It also noted that 43 percent of “younger’ cell phone owners - that under age 50 - are also reading news stories on their phones, compared to 15 percent of cell phone owners who fall in the “over-50″ category.

I like the ZDNet Between the lines because they refer to other news like CNET.

There was a lot more to that report and CNET breaks it down nicely. For example, 59 percent of the audience get their news from both online and offline sources and 57 percent said they have between two and five favorite Web sites to visit for their news. It also found that 37 percent are engaging in the news, either by commenting or pushing headlines to their friends and associates via social sites like Facebook and Twitter.

and, they point to a blog entry by Reynolds Journalism Institute at University of Missouri.

But I found the statistic about mobile especially interesting because, just a few weeks ago. a fellow of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, published a blog post that sounded the alarm about the news industry’s need for a mobile strategy for content delivery.

I tell some friends that I am staring to work with Mizzou and they have one of the top journalism schools. One person having a journalism degree, said “never heard of them who is famous from their school.”  Knowing I was talking to someone who didn’t know journalism, I had fun and pointed out Brad Pitt went to Mizzou for Journalism.  That got her attention.

pittBRAD PITT
Brad Pitt was born on December 18, 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He attended Kickapoo High School in Springfield, Missouri and majored in journalism at the University of Missouri. He was a member of Sigma Chi and the Homecoming Steering Committee and did some acting in Greek talent events. Just two credits shy of graduating, Pitt took off for Los Angeles to start his acting career.

But, there are well respected journalist too.

lehrerJIM LEHRER
Jim Lehrer was born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1934. He is a graduate of Victoria College in Texas and a 1956 graduate of the University of Missouri Journalism School.

 

 

And, Mizzou has a blog just on Mobile Journalism, and wrote an entry on Feb 6, 2010 for a 3 year timeframe on how Newspapers need to start now on their mobile strategy.

The road to 2013: A timeline for newspapers

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Clyde Bentley

When I first saw Gartner Research’s list of predictions for IT organizations and the people they serve, I was amused.  Guessing games are always fun. As I read on, I became concerned.  Then a bit afraid.

But now I’m just fired up for a challenge.

Gartner is no slouch at forecasting trends in technology and business using sophisticated research tools to make more-than-educated guesses.  This year’s predictions ranged from India taking the lead in cloud aggregation to Internet marketing coming under government regulation.

the timeframe is as follows.

Bentley’s Timeline for Mobile Newspaper Success

February 2010 Gartner predicts mobile will replace PC in Web access by 2013
March 2010 Research  the cell provider/handset type in newspaper’s market area
April 2010 Key editors have smartphones
May 2010 Designate mobile editors
June 2010 Mobile edition (MWeb) online content
July 2010 Text-message alert systems activated; reader mobile phone numbers collected
August-September 2010 Train news and ad staff on mobile potential
October 2010 Have apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Symbian
November-December 2010 Offer mobile coupons via text and mobile Web
January 2011 Ready to receive mobile voice, text and image submissions from the public
February 2011 Reporters have phones that can capture image, video and sound and deliver it to the home office
March-April 2011 Integrate mobile content and commerce: Bar code advertising, ticket sales
May-June 2011 Optimize MWeb/app editions that take advantage of GMS, return text, text-to-voice delivery
July-August 2011 Provide niche M-news: Smoke-break wraps, during-game scores, pre-commute weather
September-October 2011 Offer location-based feature stories/videos/ads
November 2011 Link readers into mobile social networks with “find friends nearby” ability
December 2011 Offer location-based feature stories/videos/ads
January 2012 Newspapers take the lead as top mobile news provider
February-March 2012 Provide just-in-time comics, mobile games
April-May 2012 Provide mobile guide/help/find services
June-July 2012 Offer full-length books and longform features for mobile reading
August-September 2012 Provide augmented reality stories and ads
October -November 2012 Offer Web-enabled handsets as subscription premiums
December 2012 Integrate mobile and online newsroom operations
January 2013  More people access the Web by mobile than by PC

But, not one month later, Pew Research gives more research information referring to the growth of mobile devices used to read the news.

3 years may be too long of a timeframe for the newspaper agencies.  The likes of MSNBC, Google News, and the following are all planning the list already.  Here are the top 6 Google search listings for “news”

  1. Breaking News, Weather, Business, Health, Entertainment, Sports ...
    - 3 visits - 11/30/09

    Mar 1, 2010 ... Msnbc.com is a leader in breaking news, video and original journalism. Stay current with daily news updates in health, entertainment, ...
    www.msnbc.msn.com/ - 24 minutes ago - Cached - Similar -

  2. CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment ...

    CNN.com delivers the latest breaking news and information on the latest top stories, weather, business, entertainment, politics, and more.

    World - Money - Sports - Video

    www.cnn.com/ - 45 minutes ago - Cached - Similar -

  3. Breaking News | Latest News | Current News - FOXNews.com

    Breaking News, Latest News and Current News from FOXNews.com. Breaking news and video. Latest Current News: US, World, Entertainment, Health, Business, ...

    The O'Reilly Factor - World - Video - Politics

    www.foxnews.com/ - Cached - Similar -

  4. Google News

    Aggregated headlines and a search engine of many of the world's news sources.
    news.google.com/ - Cached - Similar -

  5. The top news headlines on current events from Yahoo! News - Yahoo ...

    Feb 28, 2010 ... Use Yahoo! News to find breaking news, current events, the latest headlines,news photos, analysis & opinion on top stories, world, ...
    news.yahoo.com/ - Cached - Similar -

  6. Technology News - CNET News

    Mar 1, 2010 ... Tech news and business reports by CNET News. Focused on information technology, core topics include computers, hardware, software, ...
    news.cnet.com/ - 24 minutes ago - Cached - Similar -